The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified[2]:1multinationalmass media corporation headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's second largest broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue, after Comcast.[3] Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio, then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media. In addition, Disney has since created corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Studios, which is today one of the largest and best-known studios in American cinema. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, music, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is a primary symbol of The Walt Disney Company.

Corporate history

1923–1928: The silent era

In early 1923, Kansas City, Missouri, animator Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice's Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Films,[ChWDC 1] Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Roy O. Disney. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler of M.J. Winkler Productions contacted Disney with plans to distribute a whole series of Alice Comedies purchased for $1,500 per reel with Disney as a production partner. Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice.[4] In January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio.[ChWDC 2]

After the demise of the Alice comedies, Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,[4] which was distributed by Winkler Pictures through Universal Pictures.[ChWDC 2] The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars.[4] Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winkler's husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disney's primary animators (the exception being Ub Iwerks) to start his own animation studio, Snappy Comedies.[ChWDC 3]

1928–1934: Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies

Original poster for Flowers and Trees (1932)

In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse.[4] Disney's first sound film Steamboat Willie, a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928[ChWDC 3] through Pat Powers' distribution company.[4] It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho.[ChWDC 3]Steamboat Willie was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound.[4] Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee De Forest's Phonofilm system.[ChWDC 3]Steamboat Willie premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre.[5] Disney's Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.[ChWDC 3]

Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and other characters,[4] and began the Silly Symphonies series with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929. In September 1929, theater manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club which Walt approved. In November, test comics strips were sent to King Features, who requested additional samples to show to the publisher, William Randolph Hearst. On December 16, the Walt Disney Studios partnership was reorganized as a corporation with the name of Walt Disney Productions, Limited with a merchandising division, Walt Disney Enterprises, and two subsidiaries, Disney Film Recording Company, Limited and Liled Realty and Investment Company for real estate holdings. Walt and his wife held 60% (6,000 shares) and Roy owned 40% of WD Productions. On December 30, King Features signed its first newspaper, New York Mirror, to publish the Mickey Mouse comic strip with Walt's permission.[ChWDC 4]

In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor (through the end of 1935) to produce cartoons in color, beginning with Flowers and Trees (1932). Disney released cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures (1928–1930), Columbia Pictures (1930–1932), and United Artists (1932–1937).[6] The popularity of the Mickey Mouse series allowed Disney to plan for his first feature-length animation.[4]

1934–1945: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and World War II

Deciding to push the boundaries of animation even further, Disney began production of his first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in December 1937 and became highest-grossing film of that time by 1939.[8]Snow White was released through RKO Radio Pictures, which had assumed distribution of Disney's product in July 1937,[ChWDC 5] after United Artists attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts.[9]

The studio continued releasing animated shorts and features, such as Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942).[4] After World War II began, box-office profits declined. When the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of Disney's animators were drafted into the armed forces. The U.S. and Canadian governments commissioned the studio to produce training and propaganda films. By 1942 90% of its 550 employees were working on war-related films.[10] Films such as the feature Victory Through Air Power and the short Education for Death (both 1943) were meant to increase public support for the war effort. Even the studio's characters joined the effort, as Donald Duck appeared in a number of comical propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award-winning Der Fuehrer's Face (1943).

1946–1954: Post-war and television

The original Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios

With limited staff and little operating capital during and after the war, Disney's feature films during much of the 1940s were "package films," or collections of shorts, such as The Three Caballeros (1944) and Melody Time (1948), which performed poorly at the box-office. At the same time, the studio began producing live-action films and documentaries. Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948) featured animated segments, while the True-Life Adventures series, which included such films as Seal Island (1948) and The Vanishing Prairie (1954), were also popular. Eight of the films in the series won Academy Awards.[11]

In December 1950, Walt Disney Productions and The Coca-Cola Company teamed up for Disney's first venture into television, the NBC television network special An Hour in Wonderland. In October 1954, the ABC network launched Disney's first regular television series, Disneyland, which would go on to become one of the longest-running primetime series in history. Disneyland allowed Disney a platform to introduce new projects and broadcast older ones, and ABC became Disney's partner in the financing and development of Disney's next venture, located in the middle of an orange grove near Anaheim, California. It was the first phase of a long corporate relationship which, although no one could have anticipated it at the time, would culminate four decades later in the Disney company's acquisition of the ABC network, its owned and operated stations, and its numerous cable and publishing ventures.[citation needed]

1955–1965: Disneyland

In 1954, Walt Disney used his Disneyland series to unveil what would become Disneyland, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. On July 18, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland was previewed with a live television broadcast hosted by Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. A major expansion in 1959 included the addition of America's first monorail system.

For the 1964 New York World's Fair, Disney prepared four separate attractions for various sponsors, each of which would find its way to Disneyland in one form or another. During this time, Walt Disney was also secretly scouting out new sites for a second Disney theme park. In November 1965, "Disney World" was announced, with plans for theme parks, hotels, and even a model city on thousands of acres of land purchased outside of Orlando, Florida.

Disney continued to focus its talents on television throughout the 1950s. Its weekday afternoon children's television program The Mickey Mouse Club, featuring its roster of young "Mouseketeers", premiered in 1955 to great success, as did the Davy Crockettminiseries, starring Fess Parker and broadcast on the Disneyland anthology show.[4] Two years later, the Zorro series would prove just as popular, running for two seasons on ABC.[13] Despite such success, Walt Disney Productions invested little into television ventures in the 1960s,[citation needed] with the exception of the long-running anthology series, later known as The Wonderful World of Disney.[4]

The theme park design and architectural group became so integral to the Disney studio's operations that the studio bought it on February 5, 1965, along with the WED Enterprises name.[16][17][18][19]

1966–1971: The deaths of Walt and Roy Disney and the opening of Walt Disney World

On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died of complications relating to lung cancer,[4] and Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company. One of his first acts was to rename Disney World as "Walt Disney World" in honor of his brother and his vision.[20]

On October 1, 1971, Walt Disney World opened to the public, with Roy Disney dedicating the facility in person later that month. On December 20, 1971, Roy Disney died of a stroke. He left the company under control of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Walt's son-in-law Ron Miller, each trained by Walt and Roy.

As head of the studio, Miller attempted to make films to drive the profitable teenage market who generally passed on seeing Disney movies.[22] Inspired by the popularity of Star Wars, the Disney studio produced the science-fiction adventure The Black Hole in 1979 that cost $20 million to make, but was lost in Star Wars' wake.[4]The Black Hole was the first Disney production to carry a PG rating in the United States.[22][N 1] Disney dabbled in the horror genre with The Watcher in the Woods, and financed the boldly innovative Tron; both films were released to minimal success.[4]

Disney also hired outside producers for film projects, which had never been done before in the studio's history.[22] In 1979, Disney entered a joint venture with Paramount Pictures on the production of the 1980 film adaptation of Popeye and Dragonslayer (1981); the first time Disney collaborated with another studio. Paramount distributed Disney films in Canada at the time, and it was hoped that Disney's marketing prestige would help sell the two films.[22]

Finally, in 1982, the Disney family sold the naming rights and rail-based attractions to the Disney film studio for 818,461 shares of Disney stock then worth $42.6 million none of which went to Retlaw. Also, Roy E. Disney objected to the overvalued purchase price of the naming right and voted against the purchase as a Disney board director.[23] The 1983 release of Mickey's Christmas Carol began a string of successful movies, starting with Never Cry Wolf and the Ray Bradbury adaptation Something Wicked This Way Comes.[4] The Walt Productions film division was incorporated on 01983-04-01-0000April 1, 1983 as Walt Disney Pictures.[24] In 1984, Disney CEO Ron Miller created Touchstone Films as a brand for Disney to release more major release motion pictures. Touchstone's first release was the comedy Splash (1984), which was a box office success.[25]

With The Wonderful World of Disney remaining a prime-time staple, Disney returned to television in the 1970s with syndicated programing such as the anthology series The Mouse Factory and a brief revival of the Mickey Mouse Club. In 1980, Disney launched Walt Disney Home Video to take advantage of the newly emerging videocassette market. On April 18, 1983, The Disney Channel debuted as a subscription-level channel on cable systems nationwide, featuring its large library of classic films and TV series, along with original programming and family-friendly third-party offerings.

Walt Disney World received much of the company's attention through the 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1978, Disney executives announced plans for the second Walt Disney World theme park, EPCOT Center, which would open in October 1982. Inspired by Walt Disney's dream of a futuristic model city, EPCOT Center was built as a "permanent World's Fair", complete with exhibits sponsored by major American corporations, as well as pavilions based on the cultures of other nations. In Japan, the Oriental Land Company partnered with Walt Disney Productions to build the first Disney theme park outside of the United States, Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in April 1983.

Despite the success of the Disney Channel and its new theme park creations, Walt Disney Productions was financially vulnerable. Its film library was valuable, but offered few current successes, and its leadership team was unable to keep up with other studios, particularly the works of Don Bluth, who defected from Disney in 1979.

By the early 1980s, the parks were generating 70% of Disney's income.[4]

In 1984, financier Saul Steinberg's Reliance Group Holdings launched a hostile takeover bid for Walt Disney Productions,[4] with the intent of selling off some of its operations.[26] Disney bought out Reliance's 11.1% stake in the company. However, another shareholder filed suit claiming the deal devaluated Disney's stock and for Disney management to retain their positions. The shareholder lawsuit was settled in 1989 for a total of $45 million from Disney and Reliance.[4]

Organized in 1985, Silver Screen Partners II, LP financed films for Disney with $193 million. In January 1987, Silver Screen III began financing movies for Disney with $300 million raised, the largest amount raised for a film financing limited partnership by E.F. Hutton.[27] Silver Screen IV was also set up to finance Disney's studios.[28]

In 1989, Disney signed an agreement-in-principle to acquire The Jim Henson Company (then known as Henson Associates) from its founder, Muppet creator Jim Henson. The deal included Henson's programming library and Muppet characters (excluding the Muppets created for Sesame Street), as well as Jim Henson's personal creative services. However, in May 1990, before the deal was completed, Jim Henson passed away, and the two companies broke off merger negotiations the following December.[29]

Named the "Disney Decade" by the company, the executive talent attempted to move the company to new heights in the 1990s with huge changes and accomplishments.[4] In September 1990, The Disney Company arranged for financing up to $200 million by a unit of Nomura Securities for Interscope films made for Disney. On October 23, Disney formed Touchwood Pacific Partners I which would supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary source of funding.[28]

In 1991, hotels, home video distribution, and Disney merchandising became 28 percent of total company revenues with international revenues contributed 22 percent of revenues. The company committed its studios in the first quarter of 1991 to produce 25 films in 1992. However, 1991 saw net income drop by 23% and had no growth for the year, but saw the release of Beauty and the Beast, winner of 2 Academy Awards and top grossing film in the genre. Disney next moved into publishing with Hyperion Books and adult music with Hollywood Records while Disney Imagineering was laying off 400 employees.[4]

Eisner attempted in 1994 to purchase NBC from GE, but the deal failed due to GE wanting to keep 51% ownership of the network. Disney acquired many other media sources during the decade, including a merger with Capital Cities/ABC in 1995 which brought broadcast network ABC and its assets, including the A&E Television Networks and ESPN networks, into the Disney fold.[4] Eisner felt that the purchase of ABC was an important investment to keep Disney surviving and allowing it to compete with international multimedia conglomerates.[31]

Disney lost a $10.4 million lawsuit in September 1997 to Marsu B.V. over Disney's failure to produce as contracted 13 half-hour Marsupilami cartoon shows. Instead Disney felt other internal "hot properties" deserved the company's attention.[32]

Disney took control of the Anaheim Angels in 1996, and purchased a majority stake in the team in 1998. That same year, Disney began a move into the internet field with the purchase of Starwave and 43 percent of Infoseek. In 1999, Disney purchased the remaining shares of Infoseek and launch the Go Network portal in January. Disney also launched its cruise line with the christening of Disney Magic and a sister ship, Disney Wonder.[4]

As the Katzenberg case dragged on as his contract included a portion of the film revenue from ancillary markets forever. Katzenberg had offered $100 to settle the case but Eisner felt the original claim amount of about half a billion too much, but then the ancillary market clause was found. Disney lawyers tried to indicate a decline situation which reveal the some of the problems in the company. ABC had declining rating and increasing costs while the film segment had two film failures. While neither party revealed the settlement amount, it is estimated at $200 million.[4]

Eisner's controlling style inhibited efficiency and progress according to some critics, while other industry experts indicated that "age compression" theory led to a decline in the company's target market due to youth copying teenage behavior earlier.[4]

2000 brought an increase in revenue of 9% and net income of 39% with ABC and ESPN leading the way and Parks and Resorts marking its sixth consecutive year of growth. However the September 11 attacks led to a complete halt of vacation travel and led to a recession. The recession led to a decrease in ABC revenue. Plus, Eisner had the company make an expensive purchase of Fox Family Worldwide. 2001 was a year of cost cutting laying off 4,000 employees, Disney parks operations decreased, slashing annual live-action film investment, and minimizing Internet operations. While 2002 revenue had a small decrease from 2001 with the cost cutting, net income rose to $1.2 billion with two creative film releases. In 2003, the Studio became the first studio to record over $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts.[4]

Eisner did not want the board to renominate Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney, as a board director citing his age of 72 as a required retirement age. Stanley Gold responded by resigning from the board and requesting the other board members oust Eisner.[4] In 2003, Disney resigned from his positions as the company's vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation,[ChWDC 8] accusing Eisner of micromanagement, flops with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie flops starting in the year 2000.

In 2004, Pixar Animation Studios began looking for another distributor after its 12-year contract with Disney ended, due to its strained relationship over issues of control and money with Eisner. Also that year, Comcast Corporation made an unsolicited $54 billion bid to acquire Disney. A couple of high budget movies flopped at the box office. With these difficulties and with some board directors dissatisfied, Eisner ceded the board chairmanship.[4]

On March 3, 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising and unprecedented 45% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.[ChWDC 9]

In 2006, Disney acquired Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney’s pre-Mickey silent animation star.[36] Aware that Disney's relationship with Pixar was wearing thin, President and CEO Robert Iger began negotiations with leadership of Pixar Animation Studios, Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull, regarding possible merger. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5; and among noteworthy results was the transition of Pixar's CEO and 50.1% shareholder, Steve Jobs, becoming Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7% and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.[37][38] Ed Catmull took over as President of Pixar Animation Studios. Former Executive Vice-President of Pixar, John Lasseter, became Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, its division DisneyToon Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios, as well assuming the role of Principal Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering.[38]

In April 2007, the Muppets Holding Company, LLC was renamed The Muppets Studio and placed under new leadership in an effort by Iger to re-brand the division. The re-branding was completed in September 2008, when control of The Muppets Studio was transferred from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios.[33]

After a long time working in the company as a senior executive and large shareholder, Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney died from stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. At the time of his death, he owned roughly 1% of all of Disney which amounted to 16 million shares. He is seen to be the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the running of the company and working in the company altogether.[citation needed]

On August 31, 2009, Disney announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion.[39] The deal was finalized on December 31, 2009 in which Disney acquired full ownership on the company.[40] Disney has stated that their acquisition of Marvel Entertainment will not affect Marvel's products, neither will the nature of any Marvel characters be transformed.[41]

In October 2009, Disney Channel president Rich Ross, hired by Iger, replaced Dick Cook as chairman of the company and, in November, began restructuring the company to focus more on family friendly products. Later in January 2010, Disney decided to shut down Miramax after downsizing Touchstone, but one month later, they instead began selling the Miramax brand and its 700-title film library to Filmyard Holdings. On March 12, ImageMovers Digital, Robert Zemeckis's company which Disney had bought in 2007, was shut down. In April 2010, Lyric Street, Disney's country music label in Nashville, was shut down. In May 2010, the company sold the Power Rangers brand, as well as its 700-episode library, back to Haim Saban. In June, the company canceled Jerry Bruckheimer's film project Killing Rommel.[42] In January 2011, Disney Interactive Studios was downsized.[43] In November, two ABC stations were sold.[44] With the release of Tangled in 2010, Ed Catmull said that the "princess" genre of films was taking a hiatus until "someone has a fresh take on it ... but we don't have any other musicals or fairytales lined up."[45] He explained that they were looking to get away from the princess era due to the changes in audience composition and preference.[citation needed] However in the Facebook page, Ed Catmull stated that this was just a rumor.[46]

In April 2011, Disney broke ground on Shanghai Disney Resort. Costing $4.4 billion, the resort is slated to open in 2015.[47] Later, in August 2011, Bob Iger stated on a conference call that after the success of the Pixar and Marvel purchases, he and the Walt Disney Company are looking to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories."[48] Later, in early February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software Communications, expanding their market further into India and Asia.[49]

On October 30, 2012, Disney announced plans to acquire Lucasfilm, along with plans to produce a seventh instalment in its Star Wars franchise for 2015.[50] On December 4, 2012, the Disney-Lucasfilm merger was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, allowing the acquisition to be finalized without dealing with antitrust problems.[51] On December 21, 2012, the deal was completed with the acquisition value amounting to approximately $4.06 billion, and thus Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney (which coincidentally reunited Lucasfilm under the same corporate umbrella with its former spin-off and new sibling, Pixar).[52]

On May 29, 2013, Disney set release dates for eight currently untitled animated films through 2018, including four from Disney Animation and four from Pixar Animation.[53]

On March 24, 2014, Disney bought Maker Studios, a YouTube company generating billions of views each year, for over $500 million in order to advertise to viewers in the crucial teenage/young adult demographics.[54]

In July 2014, The Walt Disney Company announced 11 startups that would begin in the company’s accelerator program.[56]

In August 2014, The Walt Disney Company filed three patents for using drones. Patents included using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to lift marionettes in the air, raise mesh screens for floating video projections, and equipping drones with lights to make them part of a new kind of light show.[57]

Company divisions and subsidiaries

The Walt Disney Company operates through five primary business units, which it calls "business segments": Studio Entertainment, with the primary business unit The Walt Disney Studios, which includes the company's film, recording label, and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts, featuring the company's theme parks, cruise line, and other travel-related assets; Disney Consumer Products, which produces toys, clothing, and other merchandising based upon Disney-owned properties; Media Networks, which includes the company's television properties; and Disney Interactive, which includes Disney's Internet, mobile, social media, virtual worlds, and computer games operations.[59] The first four segments are headed by chairmen, while Disney Interactive is currently headed by a president. Marvel Entertainment is also a direct CEO reporting business, while its financial results are primarily divided between the Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products segments.[citation needed] While Maker Studios is split between Studio Entertainment and Media Networks segments.[60]

Disney Media Networks

Disney Media Networks is a business segment and primary unit of The Walt Disney Company that contains the company's various television networks, cable channels, associated production and distribution companies and owned and operated television stations. Media Networks also manages Disney's interest in its joint venture with Hearst Corporation, A+E Networks and ESPN Inc.. Unlike the four other segments, it is the only one with two leaders or "co-chairs": the presidents of ESPN and Disney-ABC Television Group.[61] Thus, Disney has a total of eight business unit leaders who report to the CEO and COO.

Chief Executive Officers

Chairmen of the Board

Walt Disney dropped his Chairman title in 1960 to focus more on the creative aspects of the company, becoming "executive producer in charge of all production." After a four-year vacancy, Roy O. Disney assumed the chairmanship.

Chief Operating Officers

Financial data

In its annual report, Disney disclosed that its business is "affected by its ability to exploit and protect against infringement of its intellectual property, including trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents and trade secrets."[2]:17

Criticism

Some of Disney's animated family films have drawn fire for being accused of having sexual references hidden in them, among them The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). Instances of sexual material hidden in some versions of The Rescuers (1977) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) resulted in recalls and modifications of the films to remove such content.[81]

Some religious welfare groups, such as the Catholic League, have opposed films including Priest (1994) and Dogma (1999).[82] A book called Growing Up Gay, published by Disney-owned Hyperion and similar publications, as well as the company's extension of benefits to same-sexdomestic partners, spurred boycotts of Disney and its advertisers by the Catholic League, the Assemblies of God USA, the American Family Association, and other conservative groups.[82][83][84] The boycotts were discontinued by most of these organizations by 2005.[85] In addition to these social controversies, the company has been accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise.[86][87]